Rugose Reef Tag

A kinesthetic game to show how healthy reefs are rugose reefs.

Click here for video on how to teach the lesson

Implement this lesson:

With students needing to move around a lot.

Learning objective:

Students will be able to understand and value the importance of how human activities influence the chemistry and thus health of the ocean ecosystem and organisms. Students will also be able to understand and value the importance of how changes in the coral reef ecosystem caused by ocean acidification can affect life on the reef, and those humans who depend on or enjoy them (sustenance and tourism).

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

Common Core ELA Standards

Reading:

Informational Text Grades 4-8: 1 – Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text 4 – Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text 7 – Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

Writing Standards Grades 4-8:

1 – Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information 2 – Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly • 4 – Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience

Common Core Math Standards

Mathematical Practices: Reason abstractly and quantitatively • Construct viable arguments

Next Generation Science Standards

4 Structure, Function, and Information Processing 4-LS1-1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction

Science and Engineering Practices: Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Crosscutting Concepts:

Cause and Effect Systems and System Models 3-5 Engineering Design 3-5-ETS1-2 Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Science and Engineering Practices: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

Crosscutting Concepts:

Influence of Science, Engineering, and Technology on Society and the Natural World MS Human Impacts MS-ESS3-3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment

Science and Engineering Practices: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

Crosscutting Concepts:

Cause and Effect Influence of Science, Engineering, and Technology on Society and the Natural World

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)

K.6A use the senses to explore different forms of energy such as light, thermal, and sound

K.9B examine evidence that living organisms have basic needs such as food, water, and shelter for animals and air, water, nutrients, sunlight, and space for plants

K10B identify basic parts of plants and animals

1.6(A) identify and discuss how different forms of energy such as light, thermal, and sound are important to everyday life

1.10(A) investigate how the external characteristics of an animal are related to where it lives, how it moves, and what it eats

2.9(A) identify the basic needs of plants and animals

2.9(B) identify factors in the environment, including temperature and precipitation, that affect growth and behavior such as migration, hibernation, and dormancy of living things

2.9(C) compare the ways living organisms depend on each other and on their environments such as through food chains

3.9(A) observe and describe the physical characteristics of environments and how they support populations and communities of plants and animals within an ecosystem

5.9(A) observe the way organisms live and survive in their ecosystem by interacting with the living and nonliving components.

5.9(B) describe the flow of energy within a food web, including the roles of the sun, producers, consumers, and decomposers

5.9(C) predict the effects of changes in ecosystems caused by living organisms including humans, such as the overpopulation of grazers or the building of highways

5.9(D) identify fossils as evidence of past living organisms and the nature of the environment at the time using models

Overview:

Coral reefs are extremely important ecosystems to both marine organisms and humans. The health of coral reefs and the organisms that live within them is at risk because of the change in the ocean’s composition due to additional carbon dioxide that is dissolved into sea water from the burning of fossil fuels and land use change. This change in ocean chemistry called ocean acidification, can alter the landscape of a reef, causing less structural diversity, roughness or rugosity. This decrease in rugosity can lead to a decrease in diversity due to less available places or niches within the ecosystem for marine organisms like fishes to hide, grown and live. This can change in predator- prey relationship. These changes can impact the coral reef food web and humans who depend on the creatures who live there.

Overview

Materials:

-(optional) a items or hat to denote which students are predator and which are prey

Advanced Prep:

Move a lot of objects out of the way.

Procedure:

Create a “reef” low in complexity or rugosity – one representing an “acidified” ocean (future atmospheric CO2 levels) where there are fewer obstacles (less chairs, tables, etc. in the space).
Denote one student predator and another prey. Allow the prey to start where he would like in the designated space.
On “go” predator student will try to tag prey student. The tag or “capture” should happen relatively quickly given that there are no obstacles or places for the prey to hide from or slow down the predator.
Repeat with a “reef “that is high in rugosity representing a healthy reef that hasn’t been affected by acidification with many more chairs, tables, desk, etc. a. The “capture” will be more challenging, entertaining, and time consuming.

Questions to Ask:

Pre-experiment

Do you know what an acid is? A base? Would you like to learn about it?
Did you know there are acidic and basic substances we use and possibly eat each day?
Do you know what is causing this change in ocean pH?

Post-experiment

Which reef would you rather be prey on? Why?
Which ocean was it easier for the predator to tag or capture the prey? Why?
Which reef would be more likely to host more types of organisms?
What can we/you do as humans to help coral reefs stay complex and therefore healthy and biodiverse?
What is ocean acidification?
What happens (chemically) when the oceans absorb CO2?
What does the absorption of CO2 by the ocean mean for certain organisms such as pteropods and oyster larvae?
What is creating atmospheric CO2? What can humans do to decrease the amount of atmospheric CO2?

Extensions:

– Students will read Earth’s Acid Test published in Nature March 10, 2011 and answer questions about the text. Students will explore the http://www.cisanctuary.org/ocean-acidification/ Web site (with supervision of teacher) to learn more about ocean acidification.

– Investigate what other types of organisms may be the first to be impacted by ocean acidification and why. Students will explore ways they can effect change in the use of fossil fuels beyond their home and school communities.

Evaluation:

-Students will write a short essay on the effects of ocean acidification. They will need to address the following:

What is ocean acidification?
What happens (chemically) when the oceans absorb CO2?
What does the absorption of CO2 by the ocean mean for certain organisms such as pteropods and oyster larvae?
What is creating the atmospheric CO2? What can humans do to decrease the amount of atmospheric CO2?